BUFFALO, N.Y. — Erie County District Attorney John Flynn gave an update on the investigation into missing money at the Erie County Clerk's Office.
An audit by the county comptroller earlier this year found more than $114,000 was missing. Flynn said his office is still waiting on subpoenas involving an unnamed bank where the clerk's office money was deposited.
"These white collar investigations take time, mainly because of subpoenas. When you issue subpoenas to banks, some banks are better than others, OK? Some banks give you the materials quickly. Other banks take forever," Flynn said.
A worker in the clerk's office was suspended back in September. At the time, county clerk Mickey Kearns wouldn't say if it was a result of the audit or ongoing criminal investigation. Multiple parties are involved in the investigation, including the state comptroller and the Erie County Sheriff's Office.
"The more you find that raises an eyebrow, now you've got to go, let's check out the prior year, which means you have to issue more subpoenas and wait for those subpoenas to come back for the previous years. So you know. It takes time. I assure you, we're on it, OK. I've got my guy downstairs on it. I've got the sheriff on it," Flynn said.
Erie County comptroller Kevin Hardwick said his office staffers originally found more than $13,000 missing from checking the clerk's office records for two months — January and December — in 2022. They decided to look at the rest of 2022 and the first six months of this year. A further audit showed that missing money amount has grown to more than $114,000.